TEHRAN (Parliament Politics Magazine) – In retaliation to Tehran’s alleged sale of drone technology to Russia, Ukraine has started expelling Iranian students from the nation, Middle East Eye found out.
Iranian students informed MEE that this was the justification given by Ukrainian immigration officials for not extending the students’ visas.
Iranian student Farid* reported that the immigration official treated him and the other students very harshly and informed them that their visas would not be extended due to “the drones and the military officers your country sends to train Russians.”
The officer allegedly told the students that they should be responsible for their government’s activities, he said.
The Iranian embassy expressed regret to the students and claimed there was nothing more they could do.
The immigration officers in Ukraine instructed them to leave the nation within ten days, he continued.
Ahmad*, a medical student now residing in Iran, informed MEE that he had also been instructed to leave the nation within 10 days.
“Your request has been rejected,” they informed him, he said.
“You are being rejected because you are Iranian and your government has given drones to Russia,” the immigration officer told him while looking him directly in the eyes.
Ahmad additionally asserted that several students were brought to the national security department for interrogation.Â
Another expelled student confirmed this, but he added that those who were taken didn’t want to talk about their treatment.
A few Iranian students, and himself, even requested permission from the university to take the classes online from their country, added Farid.
“But after a few days, they said ‘this is not possible, as the immigration department and Ministry of Foreign Affairs have told us that you must be expelled’.”
Drone diplomacy
Tehran has silently sided with the Kremlin since the start of the war in Ukraine while advocating for peace through discussion with both sides.
Hossein Amirabdollahian, the foreign minister of Iran, travelled to Russia in late August with the intention of serving as a mediator between Moscow and Kyiv.
Political deputy to the Iranian president, Mohammad Jamshidi, tweeted at the same time that “one of the leaders of Western Europe had asked President [Ebrahim Raisi] to help mediate [between Europe and Moscow]. After a series of consultations, a peace initiative was sent to Moscow along with an important message by Foreign Minister Abdollahian.”
However, no outcomes materialised.
In the meantime, some publications claimed that Iran had sold suicide drones to Russia.
On September 17, the Wall Street Journal cited Ukrainian officers who said that Russia had used Iranian suicide drones to significantly harm Ukrainian soldiers.
As a result, the Iranian ambassador’s accreditation was revoked, the Ukrainian authorities said.
On September 23, the spokesman for the Ukrainian foreign ministry, Oleg Nikolenko’s tweet stated that they announced the revocation of accreditation of the Iranian Ambassador in Kyiv, and a significant drawdown of diplomatic personnel at the Iranian embassy. That was in reaction to Iran providing weapons to Russia to use in its war against Ukraine.
Journalist Viktor Kovalenko wrote on his Twitter account a few days later, on September 26, that Ukrainian forces had attacked a Russian base in the occupied city of Skadovsk in the Kherson province, “killing 20 military instructors from Iran who were teaching 40 locals and 20 from Russia to operate Shahed-136 drones.”
Although Tehran has so far denied the claims, Ukrainian officials are adamant that Iran provided suicide drones to Russia.
*Names changed for security reasons.
